yummy {healthy} smoothie recipe!

i make smoothies at least 3 times a week. i love them, my kids love them, and they are a quick and easy way to fill up our tummies with yummies.

i change my recipe a lot, partly because i get bored, and partly because of what’s in my freezer.

ok, so don’t freak out about the spinach. i promise you can’t taste it. its actually pretty tasteless when its fresh. i buy a big (gigantic) bag of spinach from costco and even though i can never use it all before it goes bad, it only costs a few dollars.

i put in a couple huge handfuls and squish it all the way down to the bottom with my fist. tell that spinach who’s boss.

next i add a bit of flax seed meal (make sure its milled, not the whole seeds, since they just pass right through your system).

i don’t measure how much i put in, just eyeball it – maybe 1/8-1/4 cup? and flax meal is pretty flavorless, too, but like the spinach, its super healthy for you.

i always always always add bananas. they add a creamy texture. if i have a few bananas that are too ripe to eat, i’ll peel and toss them into a baggy in the freezer and use them later. i prefer to use the frozen ones, but fresh are totally fine, too. one banana is fine, but 2 is better.

i always have a big ol’ bag of frozen fruit from costco in my freezer. always strawberries and usually something else – a mix of berries or pineapple/mango/papaya mix. this week all i had was strawberries, so that’s what i used! if the greenish color freaks you out, add berries – they are full of color.

i used to add plain yogurt but some in our family react a little funny to dairy, so we’ve been skipping it for awhile.

last i add the only unhealthy ingredient: apple juice. orange juice is a little too strong for me in smoothies.

then i blend it up. if you don’t put the spinach in the bottom, it doesn’t blend well and then you have pieces of spinach floating around. not good.

Oh yum! I make smoothies everyday. I usually add spinach to mine too and sometimes carrots…you can’t even taste them. I also throw in a scoop of protein powder since I’m a vegetarian and like to get protein where ever I can.

We love making smoothies.. We use the spinach too, but I’ve never tried the flax seed- I’ll have to get some. We use coconut milk for the liquid in ours- yum!
I do need to get a new blender- do you recommend one?

I love smoothies…and I like spinach in them. It’s such a great way to sneak more greens in my diet and greens period in my 18 month old diet.

I’ve found if you put the spinach and the liquid in first (then blend) and then add the fruit a little at a time, blending after each addition, it blends better for me. It probably depends on your blender though.

Yum! I love smoothies, but am very dairy sensitive so I cannot use regular yogurt either. I have found, however, that greek yogurt is much easier for me to digest and does not cause me to have the same problems as regular dairy. I buy Trader Joe’s organic greek plain yogurt. You might have to add a little honey to make it sweet because the yogurt is not sweet at all.

We need to start up our smoothie routine again! We use Vanilla Soy milk from trader joe’s instead of apple juice and yogurt. It tastes yummy in a smoothie. AND…I totally caved last year and purchased a VitaMix from Costco. BEST decision and money spent ever with the amount of smoothies we drink. The blending is smooth and fast and clean up is even faster. I just sold my old blender at my garage sale this past weekend and said good-bye with a great big smile on my face. Happy summer!

Another recommendation to freeze your spinach! You might want to freeze it in smaller ziploc bag portions than a whole Costco bag, but once it’s frozen you can crunch it up with your hands while it’s still in the bag and add to to your blender like the fresh spinach. No more slimy spinach and waste!

My smoothies are very similar to yours except I use rice milk. I’ll try the spinach on the bottom. I’ve been reading your blog for quite awhile, but I think this is my first time to comment. Just wanted to say I love your personal style (always look forward to wiww), your home, all of it! Such a fun, inspirational blog!

Yum! I’ve been on the green smoothie bandwagon for a little while, too. I’ve started using coconut water in them for the liquid, but I’ve never tried flaxseed meal, I’ll give that a go next time, thanks for the idea. :)

We love green smoothies! Here is my favorite smoothie tip, freeze your fresh spinch. It wont go bad and it doesnt change a thing. My son accidently put it in the freezer instead of the fridge once and it was a happy mistake:)

My daughter had a major wipeout biking yesterday and her mouth is beyond swollen today. I had spinach and fruit in the house and tried them together in her smoothie today and she didn’t even taste the spinach. Thanks for the tip!

We smoothie it up here too…. my kids will eat near anything if I put it in the smoothie…. I use whatever is in the house. rice milk, almond milk, juice, coconut milk, or the “juice” from canned fruit for wet part if I’m in fridge cleaning mode. Pinneapple juice is really good too. I always add the flax and sometimes add powdered probiotic. I use spinach, whatever fruit is on hand or frozen. Sometimes I add honey or maple syrup to sweeten if it needs it. I’ve also added cooked oatmeal before, almond/nut flours, and sometimes nut butter. Once I added chocolate ovaltine and peanut butter with bananas with plain yogurt and that was crazy good. I sometimes add kefir or yogurt. I find if I make my own yogurt in the crock pot from organic milk, my kids are able to tolerate the dairy much better. And it’s WAY cheaper than store bought. {yogurt in a crock put is not as hard as it sounds, trust me its rather easy once you give it a try. Just takes planning ahead}…. Of course I don’t add all these things in at once. But I tend to totally mix it up (no pun intended) and use different things depending upon if we are drinking them as a snack or with a meal…. By the way- Raleys supermarket has milkshake straws that work perfectly for thick smoothies.

I really love the blender pictures after each new ingredient is added! Like other people who commented I usually add spinach last, but next green smoothie will try it first. If you get an organic apple juice that isn’t unhealthy. You could try tea as a healthier liquid. My only recommended ingredient to add to this smoothie would be a little coconut oil for the healthy fat. Cheers!

We don’t do dairy or soy and we have a nut allergy so we use coconut water. Zico brand…you can get it at Trader Joes. The water is not as strong a flavor as the coconut milk. We don’t do protein powder so I add egg white powder for a little more protein. It has no flavor at all.

We loooooooove our green smoothies too. Its what I eat for lunch on a typical day…always easy to grab and sip with a 20 month old and a 4 month old. Sit down lunch doesn’t always happen. I usually change it up from day to day depending on whats in the fridge. I love to use some brewed green tea (iced) or some carrot juice (that we buy bulk at costco) to liquid it up. We’ve even switched up our greens every now and then with romaine, bok choy, kale—but spinach is certainly our old faithful,too.

I make smoothies too and hide vegies in them liked cooked pumpkin and zucchini. The tip, for my super fussy vegie phobic kids is to use overripe bananas and cinnamon because they hide the taste of everything!

I have a green smoothie everyday…one way to get veggies in my diet. I use spinach mostly, kale is good, too. I just bought some coconut milk and am going to try that tomorrow. I need to get healthier. I have a freezer bag full of bananas, thanks for reminding me to use them. :)